Field
Aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to an apparatus that transmits and receives data on which output processing is to be performed.
Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a mirroring technology for sharing display screen data wirelessly has been standardized as Wi-Fi® Display (Miracast®). Mirroring is a technique to share the content of a display screen by transmitting display screen data that is being displayed by a transmitting apparatus to a receiving apparatus via a network and allowing the receiving apparatus to output the same display screen as that of the transmitting apparatus. In Wi-Fi® Display, a source device, which has the function of transmitting display screen data, a sink device, which has the function of receiving display screen data, and a dual-role device, which has both of those functions, are defined as various roles.
A method for determining whether each audio/video apparatus serves as a source device or a sink device has been proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2014-509821 (Japanese translation of a PCT patent application).
In Wi-Fi® Display, the dual-role device notifies an external communication apparatus that the dual-role device has both the function serving as a source device (source function) and the function serving as a sink device (sink function). However, even a dual-role device can use only one of the source function and the sink function to communicate with an external communication apparatus that is newly targeted for connection.
For example, there can be considered a case where the number of devices to which the dual-role device when serving as a source device is allowed to connect is limited to one. In such a situation, when the dual-role device when serving as a source device has already been connecting to one sink device, the dual-role device is not able to connect to a new sink device. However, if the dual-role device notifies the new sink device that the dual-role device has both the function serving as a source device and the function serving as a sink device, the dual-role device can perform connection processing with the new sink device in spite of the fact that the dual-role device is unable to communicate with the new sink device.